Vacation 2008: Day 2 - The world shines for me today

While the skies above Boston's northwestern suburbs indulged in a pageant worthy of Wagner, the wife and I chanced the torrential rains and thunderbolts in order to indulge in some nerdspicuous consumption at the comic/used book shop two towns over.

I was specifically searching for copies of Twilight Zone Magazine from the early 1980's and the frustratingly elusive issues of Date With Debbi and Debbi's Dates I need to fill out my collection. Though I came up empty-handed on those fronts, I still scored a respectable trove of items of retrological importance -- the Burning Sensations' mini-LP, The Brains' eponymous 1980 album, a vinyl copy of the Xanadu OST in its gatefold cover glory, and a small stack of Dynamite and Pizzazz magazines from the 1970's.

Total price: Just a shade over twenty bucks.

When we got home from our shopping trip, BBC America was playing a block of episodes from the second season of Spaced.

This is what vacations are supposed to be like.

Mint Royale - Space Farm (from On the Ropes, 1999)

Electric Light Orchestra - I'm Alive (from the Xanadu OST, 1980)

12 Days of Christmas - Day 10: wake me when it's over

'Twas the night before the night before Christmas and all though metro northwest Boston not a creature was stirring....unless you count the hordes of last-minute shoppers clogging the surface roads and making the simple task of picking up a 12-pack of Dr. Pepper and some trashbags from Target a maddening ordeal.

At this point I'd be content to just flop down on the bed and snooze straight through to Boxing Day. ("But Americans don't celebrate Boxing Day," I hear some of you saying. My point exactly.)

John Baker - Christmas Commercial (from BBC Radiophonic Music, 2002) - An interesting rendition of "O, Come All Ye Faithful" that concisely and uncomfortably captures the contemporary essence of the holiday. It's a product of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, a now-defunct branch of the government-funded broadcasting firm whose other pioneering work in the field of synth and electronic music included the legendary Dr. Who theme (a Ron Grainer composition "realized" by Delia Derbyshire).

Milton DeLugg - Horray for Santa Claus (from The Golden Turkey Album, 1985) - Some of you will recognise this as the theme to Santa Claus Conquers The Martians, the 1964 film that set the precedent for other cinematic holiday treats such as Santa Claus: The Movie, Jingle All the Way, and Fred Claus. Milton DeLugg, besides being the man responsible for this aggressively chirpy ditty, was an industry veteran who produced Buddy Holly's immortal classic, "Rave On" and served as the bandleader (and an occasional comedic foil) on The Gong Show.

Ragnarok 'til you drop

There's nothing like the threat of an impending snow/ice/shit storm to add just the right tone of hysteria to the holiday shopping season. My weekly trip to Target for household essentials earlier this afternoon meant getting caught in the middle of the seasonal War of All Against All, fought by doughy suburbanites with pinched faces, furrowed brows, and luxury SUV's.

It's been a long time since I dropped out of Congregationalist bible school, but I'm pretty sure that nearly running down a family of four in order to get a parking spot close to the entrance or spending hundreds (or thousands) of dollars on soon-to-be obsolescent crap while there are folks out there in need of basic necessities probably isn't how the Prince of Peace would have wanted his birthday to be observed.

I'm a filthy little atheist myself, so I personally have no qualms about clotheslining an obnoxious soccer mom if it means getting the last roll of sale-priced toilet paper on the shelf. Where's your messiah now, Mrs. Bourgeoisie?

The Blood - Such Fun (from Oi! Oi! That's Yer Lot, 1982; collected on the 2005 reissue of False Gestures for a Devious Public, orig. 1983) - When I was a kid, my friends and I used to ride our bikes up to Monkey Hill and dare each other to try and race down the almost vertical slope leading to the sandpits. It was something only the most reckless would attempt, surrendering one's fate to gravity and good fortune while trying to keep from doing a header over the handlebars...and yet loving every terrifying second of the experience. Listening to the Blood's early material -- this track, "Megalomania," "Calling the Shots" -- evokes a similar sensation.

Saint Etienne - The Way We Live Now (from Finisterre, 2002) - Not nearly as sweet and soothing as the song might have you believe, but things were different five years ago.

Halloween Countdown: October 29 – bodies with no surprises

The latest addition to my wife's collection of spooky ephemera, purchased yesterday at the local Target store for a buck and a quarter:


When a button on the side of the skull's jaw is pressed, its eyes light up and it emits a tinny OOOO-EEEEE-OOOO noise that freaks the shit out of our house's resident pet population. Mildly creepy, I suppose, but the back of the skull's packaging is where the real terror resides:


I'm well aware of the long-standing relationship between skulls and heavy metal, but never have I seen it manifested quite so literally...

The "recycle or manage as hazardous waste" line makes me wonder if there's an abandoned salt mine beneath the Nevada desert packed to the gills with concrete-entombed dry storage casks full of spent Skulls With Sound & Light from Halloweens past.

The Misfits - Skulls (from Walk Among Us, 1982) - I'm not one for compiling lists of "desert island discs," but if I were to dabble in such maddening pursuits, Walk Among Us would be right up in my top five choices. The album serves up some often imitated, but never duplicated, first-rate melodic punk rock dripping with retro-macabre goodness that crams more high points into twenty-five minutes than most bands manage in their entire careers.

Sparkle Moore - Skull and Crossbones (from a 1956 single; collected on Good Girls Gone Bad: Wild Weird & Wanted, 2004) - WARNING: This track is classic female-fronted rockabilly, a genre known to Armagideon Time to knock the unwary listener onto his or her ass with its sheer awesomeness.

who was right and who was wrong

If you've ever done any shopping at the internet retail juggernaut that is Amazon.com, odds are you've noticed the site's penchant for proffering suggestions as to what you might like to spend your hard-earned shekels on. The mechanics of the system are based upon the browsing and purchasing habits of Amazon's gigantic customer base, evaluated and compared to each user's individually displayed tastes (though I'm convinced that certain "hot" items are given extra weight in the process). It's a clever idea in theory, but in practice the results tend to look a lot like this:

(I just know that Kevin Church is somehow responsible for that.)

In the interest of science, I decided to incorporate my own set of Facile Behavioral Generalization Algorithms^TM, derived from years of empirical research, into the user recommendation scripts to see if I could make them more effective. After a lengthy period (two hours or so) of beta testing, I came away feeling confident in the results obtained:

(I know you will be very unhappy with that last one, Jen, but you can't argue with science.)

Penetration - On Reflection (from Coming Up for Air, 1979) - Another album and band I don't listen to as often as I should. Pauline Murray comes off at times as a poppier, generic off-brand Poly Styrene, but it's still pretty charming and very listenable stuff. Both Coming Up for Air and the band's debut LP, Moving Targets, were pretty common (and cheap) finds in the used record stores I used to frequent back in the day, while X-Ray Spex's Germfree Adolescents was only seen, if at all, behind glass and sporting a hundred buck-plus price tag.

Joy Division - Autosuggestion (from Substance: 1977-1980, 1988) - Strangely enough, Joy Division (as "Warsaw") played their first gig in support of Penetration (and the Buzzcocks) in May 1977.

During my freshman year of college, I listened to Substance every morning while waiting for the quarter-to-seven MBTA bus to Alewife to arrive. To this day, hearing the tracks the compliation evokes the chill of a November breeze, the weight of a rucksack on my shoulder, and the acidic, earthy scent of wet fallen leaves decomposing in a gutter.

The Edseys - I've Decided (from This Is Mod, Vol. 6: The United States of Mod, 1999) - Someone's asking $98.44 for this compilation? Asking and having are entirely different things, but still... I guess that makes it another entry on my list of CDs/records I could make a profit unloading, but could never bear to part with.

I know nothing about The Edseys except that they were an American mod revival outfit and they were responsible for this gem of a track. The influence of The Jam is pretty easily discernable, but it has been cut with a more laid back (I'd almost say "Californian") power pop/jangle pop vibe.

Vacation: Day 2 - S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G

First up, Lowe's Garden Center for some "bandanna rose" lantana plants, then a whirlwind tour of Tar-zhay in pursuit of junk food, pet snacks, and other household sundries. Truly, we live a life of unparalled adventure and excitement...

Here's a musical double bill of lesser-known new wave tracks by artists doomed to be forever remembered as one hit wonders:

Toni Basil - Shoppin' from A to Z (from World of Mouth, 1982; collected on The Best of Toni Basil, 1994) - From the T.A.M.I. Show to Village of the Giants to Easy Rider to SNL's early seasons to "Mickey" to the video for the Talking Heads' "Once in a Lifetime," the exploits of the talented (and apparently immortal) Ms. Basil comprise a secret history of the past five decades of pop culture.

M - That's the Way the Money Goes (from New York-London-Paris-Munich, 1979) - Before there was such a thing as Emm Tee Vee, HBO used to play music videos during the gaps between feature presentations. This was how a young Andrew was exposed to Nick Lowe's "Cruel to Be Kind," The Vapors' "Turning Japanese," The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star," and this attempt by Robin "M" Scott to follow up upon the success of "Pop Musik."